Do you ever think we will geneticaly engineer a microbe that contains all nutrients needed for human life?Do you think that something like this , if able to be produced in bulk could solve world hunger? I think a devepment like this would be very exiting , and could be a food source for an isolated civilization, or in space!
I think it would be possible - although not necessarily right! Genetic modification can be justified (one feels) in/for short term 'emergency/rescue' purposes (i.e. natural disasters) - and perhaps 'long-distance' 'space travel'(?) however I would caution such en mass, Nature provides - and manipulating the way we live - especially if there is a commercial aspect of such provision, the spectre of corruption is not so far away
To feed the world, it needs to be cheap and any state-of-the-art industrial food product would probably be very expensive.
Given the range of micro nutrients, protiens etc we need in our diet if it's to be optimal, I doubt it.
there is actually medical food made for elderly people who have stopped eating real food that sounds similar to what youve described.
I wonder how many more people we can start to feed if we continue to implement and teach vertical farming methods. Uses 98% less water & 96% less land but retains nutrient content. Slight tangent, I know, but we visited a vertical farm last weekend and I saw some relevance. Google GreenSpiritFarms
http://www.businessinsider.com/algae-is-the-superfood-of-the-future-2014-6 In a think tank I was in at one time, we were discussing the manna machine and the subject of algea as an all inclusive food stuff.
http://www.rawfoodlife.com/natures_first_raw_superfood.html There is also much research going on involving bacteria, but research has shown, thats not such a great idea. Another avenue thats undergoing some serious research is Phytoplanktons and krill.
http://marinephytoplankton.net/ just a word of caution..Unfortunately, I cannot post scientific research filed pdf, but its important to research these avenues for pros/cons and what the end results are. While promisng, obviously, they havent come up with an all inclusive source yet..but they are working on it.
